Book Review – Who Really Killed Kennedy?

By Steven Laib, on October 10th, 2013

Jerome Corsi is the latest to take on the half century-old question and provides some highly interesting insights.

When Dr. Jerome Corsi says that the assassination of President John Kennedy is the premier whodunit of the 20th century he is absolutely and ironically correct. Consider that a sitting US President is killed in front of numerous witnesses and to this day, after several high level investigations, the questions still persist over who did it, how it was done, and even why? Dr. Corsi takes on these questions in a book that draws on uncontroverted facts, investigative testimony, subject matter experts, the work of other investigative authors and his own analysis. It should be a fascinating piece of writing for those interested in the Kennedy assassination, as well as for those who have a general interest in the history of the event.

The story begins with an examination of the ballistic evidence and the “single bullet theory” that was adopted by the Warren Commission. He goes into a detailed examination of the “pristine bullet” that is supposed to have hit both President Kennedy and Texas Governor Connolly looking carefully into how it appeared on the scene and whether or not the evidence supports it as the fatal instrument. Next he goes over the crime scene, drawing on the information from experts on weapons and sniping, providing us with an understanding of whether the loan gunman theory; Lee Harvey Oswald in the Texas Schoolbook Depository acting alone makes sense in light of the surrounding evidence. He investigates witness testimony, photographs and the Zapruder film showing inconsistencies therein. All of the above casts significant doubt on the Warren commission report. It also shows how the lone shooter at the Texas Schoolbook Depository sixth floor window is extremely flawed.

Not satisfied with the crime scene, he goes into discussion of the individuals involved, including the background of Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby, J.D. Tippit, and others. He discusses the possibility that there were actually two people acting under the name of Lee Harvey Oswald, and the strange case of the woman who apparently predicted the assassination. He covers in detail the possible roles of the CIA, KGB, the Teamsters, organized crime, and the potential for international affairs making Kennedy a target.

Politics is one aspect that is rarely touched on in the “official” records but the author makes a compelling argument that politics, organized crime and the CIA played a role in the event. This becomes important in light of some of facts that indicating that 1) certain of the accepted evidence was suspect and 2) the Bethesda Naval Hospital autopsy was not conducted in that manner that it would have in the course of a proper criminal investigation. This grants credence to “conspiracy theories” that suggest exactly what Dr. Corsi investigated during the course of this project and determined to be true; that something wasn’t right about it all.

All things considered this is an excellent analytical work and a worthy successor to the author’s past writings. Still, it does have a few weaknesses. The most notable was the absence of photographs or diagrams illustrating the evidence, particularly the environs of Dealey Plaza and the presidential motorcade route. They would have been extremely useful in developing the author’s points; particularly as it is now 50 years since the event and not everyone is familiar with the “scene of the crime.” This reviewer, who was age seven at the time of the assassination needed to use internet sources to understand exactly how the crime occurred and where the different participants would have been located.

The advance copy received by this writer also contained occasional proofreading issues, with names sometimes spelled inconsistently and a statement that Joseph Stalin died in 1971 when Dr. Corsi certainly intended Nikita Khrushchev. One would hope that these errors were corrected in the publication copy. In any event, if you get past the issues, this work should be considered a valuable resource on the Kennedy assassination, the subsequent investigations (formal and informal) and the surrounding politics that certainly affected the outcome of the investigation.

Who does Dr. Corsi believe killed President Kennedy? You will have to read the book to find out. This is a review; not a short cut so you won’t have to get your own copy. But what should be said is that the conclusion is not out of line with established facts, and brings to mind the issues that face our nation today. You don’t have to be a conspiracy buff to understand that the circumstances surrounding the demise of JFK have applicability in the era of big and intrusive government.